For example, since a liquid crystal panel used in a liquid crystal display device such as a liquid crystal television is not self-luminous, such a liquid crystal panel separately requires a backlight unit as an illumination device. Such a backlight unit is intended to be installed on a rear side (the side opposite to a display surface) of a liquid crystal panel, and includes: a metallic or resin chassis having an opened face on the liquid crystal panel-side; a large number of fluorescent tubes (for example, cold cathode tubes) housed as lamps in the chassis; a large number of optical members (for example, diffusing sheets) arranged at the opening of the chassis for efficiently emitting light generated by the cold cathode tubes to the liquid crystal panel-side; and a lamp clip for supporting center portions of the elongated and tubular cold cathode tubes. A known example of lamp clips of this type is described in Patent Document 1 below.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-173250